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Fragging the red ricordia yuma


gastone

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So, the history first:

 

Picked this coral up sometime in 06 from Atlantis Aquarium down in Richmond. I probably shouldn't have purchased a fairly expensive red yuma, especially knowing their track record in captivity, and the fact that I didn't have any experience with yumas anyway. But I had done a fair bit of research beforehand and I figured, what the hey, it's only money. So purchase I did. I got it home to find that there was a baby underneath the mother. After a few days in my tank the baby was no more. However the mother survived. Never grew any, never dropped any babies. The good news is that it's a survivor and therefore a good specimen for captive propagation. The bad new... never chopped one up before. After a bit of research i decided to go with a bi-lateral cutting as opposed to a pedal laceration. Which is to say, cut it down down the middle as opposed to cutting its foot off. I had to resort to having my gf take pictures. Mostly she took pics of my hands and not so much of the actual cutting, but we'll see what we can do:

 

First the coral pre-slice: pre-slice2.jpg

pre-slice.jpg

With requisite tool(s): pre-slice3.jpg

Here I am a little weary of where to stick my knife in (btw I'm really not that pale... really): pre-slice4.jpg

 

Alright, enough contemplation - just do it already: tank2108034.jpg

 

I inserted the knife into the mouth and down through the cutting board. I then pulled the knife towards me to complete the first cut. The yuma was spun around and the knife was then re-inserted to the mouth to finish the process: (nice pic of the hands... told ya so) tank2108035.jpg

tank2108038.jpg

tank2108042.jpg

tank2108044.jpg

 

And viola: tank2108045.jpg

tank2108048.jpg

 

So now they are in a tupperware container back in the tank with some mesh tied over them so they don't float away. I'll probably squirt water at the cut edges using a pippette or syringe a few times daily to prevent against bacterial infections.

 

Garrett.

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Good stuff. I'm waiting on my hot pink ricordia to put off an offspring. That sucker will definitely be getting chopped up. How many do you think you could have fragged yours into? Did you only do halves since it was your first time? Did you read anything about cutting into thirds or quarters?

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James, I just read about them being halfed, nothing else. I think people are so loathe to try it that they go with the least (imagine that) invasive measures to propagate.

 

G.

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Chip, thanks. I was searching youtube for fragging and I came across your BTA videos. My hero and inspiration.

 

G.

 

Rik,

 

if they make it the first one is yours.

 

Here are pics from this morning.

 

Slice3.jpg

 

This one is coming along nicely. It looks to be starting to close up: Sllice2.jpg

 

This one the guts are clearly visible, but it doesn't look too bad: Slice1.jpg

 

It's only been 15 hours give or take, but I am quite hopeful.

 

More progression pics (good or bad) to follow.

 

G.

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I don't know James, never done it before. I think they could just as easily attach to the sides of the tupperware???

 

G.

 

The only reason I commented was because I got a ricordia frag from Tracy at the Fall meeting and it wouldn't stick to the inside of my plastic container. I kept it in there until it healed and it finally attached to a piece of rubble. It took a while too. I was close to just using a dab of frag glue.

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James, I'm not a big fan of glueing softies (save for zoanthids).

 

Maybe I should add some rubble then.

 

But I think I'll just try to give them a chance to re-form before I mess with their environment too much.

 

I also hacked (and I mean seriously hacked) at some ricordia floridas yesterday. We'll see how they come out.

 

G.

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James,

This is wild! We hacked up several of my ricordea that day. That particular one *just* attached itself! I tried mesh, rubberbands, you name it. Finally, I stuck it in a crevice of a lumpy rock in a low flow zone, and apparently it liked it there. You have no idea how many times I had to play "find the ricordea" in the past three months! LOL

 

It was just that one though....all the others attached right away. Guess they missed their "other half" LOL

 

Tracy

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Day 2. Both halves have attached to the tupperware container and are doing quite well... or so it seem. Pics from the morning after I cleaned their "bowl".

 

yumasliceday2.jpg

 

this is the one that has reformed better IMO. yumasliceday22.jpg

 

this is the other one. Not quite as completely reformed but attached none-the-less

yumasliceday23.jpg

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looking good.

 

how long do they take to fully heal?

 

can you re-slice right away?

 

 

Blane Perun's site says two months! Ouch that's a long time.

 

Gonna have to wait it out.

 

Don't worry... you still get the first survivor.

 

G.

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Blane Perun's site says two months!

 

Never seen a word I believed on his site. I just got 15 rics from a guy who has been slicing them for 7 years, I'll e-mail him to see how long he waits.

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I sliced up several rics. 1-2 weeks and you'd never know any of them were cut.

100% survival rate too. (these were ricordea florida, not yuma, however)

 

Tracy

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Yeah, all my research leads me to believe that floridas recover much faster than yumas. That and the fact that I did some floridas last week and they are completely reformed. To boot, after slicing the yuma friday night I did more floridas. The floridas have already reformed into little mushrooms.

 

I'll probably wait another week or two and then hack the floridas up again.

 

The yumas... gotta see if they make it first and if they do I really think it will be at least a month or two before they see the knife again.

 

G.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I checked on the yumas tonight and they are doing fine. Have pretty much completely reformed and appear to both have complete "mouths". I'll try to get some pics at some point to continue with the photo-documentation.

 

On a side note, the floridas are looking great. I use an exacto, without impunity, they do just fine.

 

On another side note, I hear stories of someone slicing a PPE is half. That guy is absolutely crazy!!!

 

Garrett.

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(edited)

 

 

On another side note, I hear stories of someone slicing a PPE is half. That guy is absolutely crazy!!!

 

Garrett.

 

I saw that! And what's with that silly eggcrate divider? :drink: :why:

Edited by Leishman
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(edited)

I saw that! And what's with that silly eggcrate divider? :drink: :why:

 

I see how it is. A guy can't use some eggcrate in his cutting without getting slack. Sheesh :)

Edited by luceneck
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  • 3 weeks later...

I checked on the yumas tonight and they are doing fine. Have pretty much completely reformed and appear to both have complete "mouths". I'll try to get some pics at some point to continue with the photo-documentation.

 

On a side note, the floridas are looking great. I use an exacto, without impunity, they do just fine.

 

On another side note, I hear stories of someone slicing a PPE is half. That guy is absolutely crazy!!!

 

Garrett.

 

Okay - it's been two weeks... do we have more pictures yet???

 

bob

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Bob,

 

no pics recently. All appears to be well with the yumas. I feel that I can confidently say that the fragging was a success. I will get some pics up shortly.

 

Garrett.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I fragged one of the halves last weekend while I was getting prepared for the meeting. The new halves have both attached to a piece of tile that I dropped into the tupperware container.

 

...and now there are 3.

 

G.

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